Preparing for a new legislature

By Jerome Keating

Despite the KMT’s sham claims that it is the party of clean government, several of its elected candidates from the past legislative election lost their seats after being found guilty of corruption. The DPP won nine of the districts that held re-elections when the KMT incumbent was found guilty of corruption. Those same DPP candidates have a good chance of retaining those seats in the upcoming elections.

Add to that the fact that Aboriginal candidates, who receive a guaranteed six seats in the legislature, are finding their own voice. Traditionally they have voted with the KMT in the legislature, an alliance that is now wavering.

Clearly, then, the legislature will have a completely new appearance next month and the KMT will no longer be the majority party.

China and the US had better put their thinking caps on and be prepared to deal with this new situation.

Even if Ma is fortunate enough to eke out a victory in the presidential election, he is going to find himself in serious trouble in the legislature. He was unable to achieve much when his party held more than 70 percent of the seats; one can only imagine how useless he will be when the KMT loses that majority.